Weather & Climate 2.4

1. While weather is short term, ​climate is a region's average weather over a long period.

2. ​The amount of sun at a given location is affected by Earth's tilt, movement, and shape.

3. ​Wind and water move heat around Earth, affecting how warm or wet a place is.

4. ​Mountains influence temperature and precipitation.

Weather & Climate

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​Weather is the temperature and precipitation at a specific time and place. Climate is a region’s average weather over a long period of time. Climate and weather are affected by the sun, location on Earth, wind, water, and mountains.

Understanding Weather & Climate

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The parts of Earth tilted toward the sun get more solar energy than the parts tilted away from the sun. This changes during the year, creating seasons. While some locations are having a warm summer, others are having a cold winter.

Sun and Location

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Energy from the sun falls more directly on the equator, so that area has warm temperatures all year. It gets colder as you move away from the low latitude of the equator. The coldest areas are at the poles, the highest latitudes.

Heat from the sun moves around Earth, partly because of winds. Winds blow in great streams around the planet. They are caused by the rising and sinking of air. Cold air sinks and warm air rises. More air flows in to take the place of the air that has moved.

Wind & Water

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Prevailing winds are winds that blow in the same direction over large areas of Earth. Hot air rises at the equator and flows toward the poles. Cold air at the poles sinks and moves toward the equator. The planet’s rotation curves the winds east or west. Prevailing winds control an area’s climate. They make regions warmer or colder, drier or wetter. They pick up moisture from water and dry out as they pass over land.

Large bodies of water also affect temperature. Ocean currents are large streams of surface water that carry warm water from the equator toward the poles and cold water from the poles toward the equator. Water heats and cools more slowly than land. Therefore, water helps to moderate the temperature of nearby land, keeping it from getting very hot or very cold.

Wind & Water

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​Storms happen when two large bodies of air collide. A front is a place where two air masses with different temperatures or moisture collide. In the United States and other regions, warm and cold air masses meet often, causing severe weather. These can include thunderstorms, blizzards, and tornadoes. Tornadoes are twisting funnels of air that touch the ground. Hurricanes are large tropical storms that form over water. They bring strong winds and heavy rain. Tornadoes and hurricanes are both dangerous and destructive.

​Video on Currents

Mountains also affect climate. The higher areas are colder than the lower elevations. Warm air blowing against a mountainside rises and cools. Clouds form, and precipitation falls on the side facing the wind. However, there is little moisture on the other side of the mountain. This effect creates a rain shadow, a dry area on the side of the mountain facing away from the direction of the wind.

Mountains

Video on Rain Shadows

Multiple Choice

Climate describes the atmospheric conditions in a place at a specific time. It changes rapidly

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

___________ describes the atmospheric conditions in a place at a specific time. It changes rapidly

• Precipitation

• Hook Echo

• Weather

• Prevailing Winds

Multiple Choice

Precipitation falls on the side of a mountain that faces the wind.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Fronts may form when air masses of different temperatures come together.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Ocean currents affect the temperature of nearby land.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Warm air at the poles rises, causing prevailing winds that travel toward the equator.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Warm air at the __________ rises, causing prevailing winds that travel toward the __________.

• mountains

  rain shadow

• equator

  poles

• Prime Meridian

  Equator

• Northern Hemisphers

  Southern Hemisphere

Multiple Choice

Winds that blow in the same direction over large areas of Earth are called:

• fronts

• rain shadows

• hurricanes

• prevailing winds

Multiple Choice

A region’s average weather conditions over a long period is

• climate

• rain shadows

• weather

• prevailing winds

Multiple Choice

Large streams of surface seawater are called:

• tidal waves

• ocean currents

• monsoons

• sea streams

Multiple Choice

A word for short-term changes in the air for a given place and time is:

• front

• climate

• season

• weather

Multiple Choice

A place where two air masses of different temperature or moisture content meet is called:

• rain shadow

• wind

• front

• monsoon

Multiple Choice

A dry area on the side of the mountain facing away from the direction of the wind is called:

• rain shadow

• wind

• front

• monsoon